Artribune Podcast Explores Giulio Romano's Erotic 'Modi' Drawings

Artribune has released a new episode of its artcrime podcast 'Storie dell'Arte' titled 'Modi Scandalosi', hosted by art historian Mosè Previti. The episode delves into the scandalous history of 'I Modi', a series of erotic drawings by Renaissance artist Giulio Romano that became Europe's first pornographic bestseller. Previti traces the work's journey from its creation to its suppression, intertwining the lives of Romano, poet Pietro Aretino who turned the images into licentious literature, persecuted engravers, scandalized popes, unscrupulous courtesans, and the mythomaniac forger Johann Friedrich Maximilian von Waldeck. The narrative spans locations from Mexico to Paris, Venice to Rome, and begins with the sudden death of Raphael, which triggered a chain of unexpected events. The podcast is based on archival sources, documents, court records, and interviews, and features an original soundtrack of classical compositions reinterpreted on synthesizer.